Persuasive Math
by Lilac Papillon
Summary: Parmon Sean is left to wonder why Artha has given him a challenge in the form of such an insulting and poorly conducted math problem. He soon realizes it wasn't as poorly conducted as he thought it was. Step away if you don't like slash. One-shot.


**Persuasive Math**

**A/N: **I'll say this right now – I do _not_ endorse this pairing. But there are others that do, and I have not seen this pairing yet in published fanfiction so I am in shock that with all the A/Ms around, there's not one of these yet. So, I'll be the first to kick it off, with one of the most **boring **yet **_brain-killing_** fanfics you will ever read because _I have to get this out of my brain before it kills me_.

**Disclaimer: **Sorry, guys, but this would never, ever, happen, if it belonged to me.

**Also: **This thing can't do squares. So square will be represented as sq2.

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Connor Penn was very proud of his son's recent acceptance into the Elite Class Academy.

He was far from relieved though.

So it wasn't a surprise that Connor was now lecturing Artha on how he immediately needed to train far more, now that his big chance has arrived. And it wasn't exactly a surprise when during Connor's explanations of certain things he wanted Artha to do and what standards to follow that Artha passed a note to Parmon Sean during the whole thing.

Of course, Parm wanted to listen, since he fully agreed that Artha should train more so he wouldn't get his scales scraped too badly. He worried about him more than he should. Naturally, though, curiosity was never kind to the older boy, so he ended up unfolding the paper and...

Wait a minute.

_What in Magna Draconis is this?_

Parm blinked and tilted the paper a few times, certain he was seeing things. On the sheet of paper were two poorly scribbled graphs, labeled with two coordinate points each. Then there was a triangle, a side pointing to each graph and one side labeled as 23. Inside that triangle was 1595, clearly indicating that the triangle was, for reasons unknown for now, not 180 degrees.

The tanned redhead whipped his head to stare at Artha, but he was back to pretending to focus on his father's speech, as though to ignore him on purpose.

Parm rolled his eyes and stared at the graph. Truly he was baffled. What in Magna Draconis was this? Just _what _was this? Artha already was out of school; he didn't need to do math. This wasn't Lance's writing either; sadly, Lance could draw better. Parm groaned audibly, slumping as he stared at the graph.

"Do the math, Professor," Artha had told him recently, his blue eyes sparkling almost cunningly. Except that was a _totally _different and extremely awkward situation that did not at all relate to math and...

He slapped himself almost immediately on instinct, aghast that _that _crept into his mind at a time like this, and glared back at the sheet. _Focus, Parmon, focus, _he told himself.

Well, there was a line on each graph. One was a partial variation connected into a line, and the other was discrete. Thank Drakkus there was a scale on the first one. He plotted out -5, -2 from what he labeled point A, and -4, 5 from point B. _Oh, well, that was extremely simple, _Parm thought. He frowned. _Now what?_

From here, he could use three different equations: distance, midpoint and slope. _Oh, scales, _he thought grimly. _Well, if we were to calculate the distance of this slope, it would be x2 minus x1 squared, summed up with y2 minus y1 squared as well, and then I would have to find the square root of that number. So, if I were to substitute these units into the equation I would end up with √(-4 + 5)sq__2 __+ (5 + 2)sq__2__, thusforth ending up with 1sq__2__ plus 7sq__2 __equaling to 15, which would be a rational decimal of 3.873sq__2__ rounded to the nearest thousandth._

He grimaced. _What do I do with it? Maybe it is the indicated length of the triangle, since it is after all unknown units in measurement, as this unknown triangle is now, but...wait, this triangle length is labeled "m + m". _Parm's hazel eyes widened in shock before he angrily furrowed his eyebrows. _Do you mean to tell me you want me to calculate the _slope _and I just wasted at least one minute calculating distance?_

_Oh, fine, then! Since slope is equal to rise over run, which is equivalent to saying y2 minus y1 over x2 minus x1, then that would be 5 + 2 / -4 + 5, thus equaling to 7. _

He took out a small pencil stub from one of his pockets and scribbled it down on the side of the indicated "m + m". _Why didn't I do this before...alright, now for the discrete variation. _He tucked his pencil behind his ear and placed his chin into his fingers as he thought. _If I label these two coordinates Point A and B and find out where they are, it...oh scales, Artha, draw your scales better, I'm certain it's 9 – 6 / -2 + 3. _

He wrote it down. _That would be 3, so 7 + 3 would be 21. Ha, I figured it out! Trying to stump me with basic algebra, Artha Penn? Well, it won't work, because now I've caught on! _He gave a triumphant grin. _So much for trying to distract me over these past few days with your mind tricks! _

Parm smirked as he tapped his pencil on his chin. _Alright, so now all that's left I'm sure is to find out the third side. Simple! It's all a matter of using the Pythagorynn Theorem so that would be 21sq__2__ + 23sq__2__ would equal x__2__, and thus that would end up being 25sq__2__! A-HA! _He could see Artha casting a sideways glance at Parm as Connor went back to reading a VIDDZine about the latest troubles in Dragon City.

Parm shot him a victorious smile. "I figured it out," he announced proudly.

Artha rolled his eyes and placed a hand on his hip. "Oh, did you, really?" the dark-haired teenager retorted, standing up and looking at his amulet nonchalantly. "Then why are you so happy about it?"

Parm scoffed, offended that this person of all people would think so lowly of him. "Did you honestly think you would beat me with such undemanding calculus? Please, you should have studied more and given me a _much _more challenging problem if you really wanted to baffle _me!_" He placed the pencil back on paper, still grinning at Artha smugly. "Just to show you what I'm made of, Artha Penn, I'll finish it off, and finalize this whole thing by calculating the perimeter by decomposing the degrees! Altogether, this triangle would be – "

It was Artha's turn to give Parm a smug smile as he watched the pencil break in half.

Parm spluttered and dropped the paper immediately, a hand flying up to clasp his mouth as he turned absolutely red. Artha shrugged, dropped the amulet back into his shirt, and gave Parm one of the most devious smiles he could as he stepped close to him. "Meet you upstairs, then?" he murmured into his ear, and walked away.

Parm, still standing rigid as a stool, blinked yet again as he raised a finger in Artha's direction. "Bu – but – but..." he stammered hoarsely. The lanky man groaned angrily and stomped a foot on the ground, clenching his fists as he spun around. "But I _don't WANT TO!" _he cried, his face redder than his own hair.

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**End**


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